Both stories have different styles, written for their respective audiences, but they each get the point across that the track coach sent inappropriate texts to at least one of his athletes. Credit goes to Blade sports reporter Ryan Autullo for developing good sources and for getting on-the-record interviews with both the ex-coach and the athlete who brought the sexual harassment charges. And credit to Deadspin reporter Doug Brown for the lengthy piece he wrote, the long list of text exchanges he shared, and his ability to include full content of some of the more profane texts that were sent, reflecting again the different audiences for the two Web sites.

I don’t view this issue as old vs. new media, but rather, more traditional media finding a way to gain equal footing with a growing online, up-to-the minute reporting. We are well aware that news doesn’t wait until tomorrow morning, and we intend to break the news when we have it confirmed, even if it is 7:13 a.m.

In a distillation of the argument, Toledo Blade managing editor Dave Murray took a shot a Deadspin, which also covered a series of sexual harassment claims against a University of Toledo coach.

"The difference between the coverage of this story by The Blade and Deadspin is that [Blade reporter Ryan] Autullo is a professional journalist who has named sources and you can believe what he reports," Murray writes as a comment in the Blade story.

It may be more of a non-story quibble than anything, but it shows the shifting dynamic of reporting - both in sports and in news. Deadspin, for their part, gained a lot of cred following the Manti Te'o story, though newsroom curmudgeons the world over aren't ready to relinquish their grip.